It seems that the May 11 "referendum" will fizzle as the separatists are out of Mariupol and trapped in Slaviansk. They've already tried to break out of the town but were contained by the Ukrainian forces sealing the area. According to Ukrainian intelligence reports they're trying to deploy explosives in different buildings they occupy and some streets of Slaviansk.

Here's the link to the intercepted by the Ukrainian security forces telephone conversation between Russian fascist from Moscow Barkashov and "leader" of the so called Donetsk's Republic Boitsov with the English transcription: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J18RziLIl30#t=93

Putler's plans are falling apart. I wish Ukraine the best in its struggle for freedom, dignity and full independence from its fascist neighbour.

I've some questions for those calling for tough actions against Russia. Please put your bias aside and apply some analytical thinking in your response.

1. What would be our reaction in the US if Russia was openly supporting say, an anti-government protest in Mexico City?

2. What would be our reaction if the Russian Foreign Ministry was caught on tape discussing the overthrow of the elected president of Mexico and the person Russia wants to replace the elected president?

3. What would be our reaction if Russian troops were stationed in Mexico?

Doesn't Mexico have a democratically elected government? Ask them! Russia is installing its military bases in Venezuela and the US just shrugs it off watching with curiosity how socialist idiots devastate that oil-rich country. Communism is a 100% effective prescription for disorder, social unrests, misery and destitution. BTW, don't make this audience believe you're American, as even in the worst public schools in the US they teach basic English grammar.

"They still write in a way better English than most Russian trolls infesting this forum."
Well they try, but if they want to be realists they should go back to crayons.
And how do you define who a 'Russian troll' is? Are they anyone with an opposing view to you regarding Eastern European politics? Or can you tell because your tin foil hat is protecting you from KGB mind rays?

Oh by the way, there's this crazy rumour going around at the moment that there are countries other than the US and Russia located on planet earth. As a yank, you'll probably just dismiss this crazy notion altogether.

"write in a way better English"
Write in 'a way' better English??? Case in point! Who are you kidding? It looks like I will have to teach you some basic grammar: "They still write FAR BETTER English than most Russian trolls infesting this forum". Please, Please, Americans .... GO BACK TO CRAYONS! Your writing skills can be developed later.

This is one of your posts. Check for your own poor grammar and make an inventory of your blunders, Sovok! BTW, "(a) way better English than ..." is totally acceptable in the colloquial language.

"The processes for such media censorship is actually quite natural, as the founder of capitalism Adam Smith would say: "People of the same trade seldom meet together even for merriment or diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public.".

Recent example of this media censorship would be of course Syria. We were constantly told that atrocities were occurring and that "Assad must go" (Although this would certainly NOT stop the bloodshed and probably make it worse). Then, according to the media Assad launched a chemical attack. The media threw this on front page news and said "Assad must go". An MIT study was then conducted to prove Assad's guilt reviewing the evidence. To the professors surprise, the weapon could not have been launched from Government Territory and were poorly built (Like how terrorists would build one). This report (Here: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1006045-possible-implications-of...) has never made it to mainstream press to this day. Please explain."

I was wondering why they are publishing all the horrible details and professional photos of the massacre in Odessa..
...
It is not Russia, it is not the Kiev junta (Ukrainean soldiers come to the borders of slavyansk, take pictures to prove "they were there" and then retreat).
...
The Odessa tragedy wasn't made by young nazi, it was implemented by a group of well prepared professionals, prepared by the CIA. To create another afganistan at the Russian border, to make peaceful people start hating each other, take weapons and fight.
...
I think both odessits and junta were horrified by what happened, with rare CIA agents exceptions.

Regardless of your totally unsupported allegations please notice, that those who play with fire often get burnt. One can only hope that that tragic event will sober up the extremists on both sides.

BTW, it's not the Ukrainian government in Kyiv that provides "little green people" with the state of the art weapons used only by the Russian elite forces (the spetznaz, FSB and GRU), sophisticated anti-aircraft and anti-tank missile launchers and heavy artillery pieces. Connect the dots if your mental faculties are adequately developed.

Russia keeps burying itself under a huge pile of Kremlin-fabricated lies and provocations. There's unequivocal support for the Kyiv government's military anti-terrorist campaigns in southeastern Ukraine. There are also plans of sending more NATO, mainly Canadian and US, ground troops to the NATO areas directly bordering Ukraine and Russia.
-
Canada is the bellwether of the international campaign supporting Ukraine's fight for freedom and democracy with the US moving in its footsteps. In Europe, the staunchest supporters of Ukraine in its fight with Russian-sent and sponsored terrorists are Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Sweden while Germany is at least lukewarm to the idea of slapping more and highly devastating sanctions on Putin's kleptocracy.
-
There's, though, an increasingly and rapidly growing consensus among all EU member states about the creation of the European energy union acting as the negotiator with all EU energy suppliers on behalf of its member states and the accelerated completion of the integrated EU NG distribution network able to distribute adequate volumes of gas to all member states without regard to the point of its entry to the grid. While completed, it'll be able to totally eliminate the EU's dependence on Russian gas. This will not eliminate Russia as an important NG supplier to the EU, but it'll totally strip Gazprom and other Russian gas companies off even tiniest traces of their monopoly pricing power.

Recent studies by sociologists regarding broad public perceptions among ethnic Ukrainians and ethnic Russians reveal very significant differences. The following are relevant results on currently hotly debated issues:

a) among ethnic Russians the proportion of those who regret the breakup of the Soviet Union has increased from 55% to 60%, while among ethnic Ukrainians the ratio has conversely decreased from 38% to 29%.

b) on the issue of overall attitude to Vladimir Putin only 16% of ethnic Ukrainians have a positive attitude, while 76% are negative. Almost ten percent are unable to assess their attitude.

Over the past year, a negative attitude towards Putin has almost doubled, from 40% to 76%.

A relatively positive attitude to Putin is found only in the Donbas (66%), while all other regions are dominated by negative attitudes - from almost 70% in the South and the East to more than 90% - in the center, North and West.

You've forgotten to add that for almost a century there has been no real history taught in formerly Soviet and, now, Russian schools; what it taught to Russian youths in Russia is Soviet mythology.
-
You and your ilk are the living and, unfortunately, writing in your "Anna Smesnel-guest speak" Russian-English style brainwashed Russian trolls spamming this discussion forum and other fora even remotely critical of Putlerreich and its Fuehrer Herrn Putin.

The pro-Russian "peaceful" demonstrators (I cannot call them t_h_u_g_s - Economist) - a lot of them came from Transnistria, from Russia - knew exactly the route of the pro-Ukrainian march in Odessa, and were ready (with guns) to start a big fight.
We know a lot of cases in the past, when the russian th...s attacked and even killed participants of pro-Ukrainian rallies in East Ukraine, but....
There was a big difference in Odessa.

In previous cases, when the russian th...s attacked Ukrainian demonstrators, the russian hool...s were dealing with more or less educated people who could not fight back.
This time in Odessa, the Russian th...s met not some intelligent Ukrainian school teachers or engineers, but
SOCCER CLUB "FANS", who were not afraid of ANY FIGHT = SOCCER CLUB FANS.

As The New York Times views it, the events in Odessa are different than what we've seen so far.
-------------------------------------------
"Like the east, the paper explains, official government forces have put up little resistance when pro-Russian militants take over buildings or set up check-points. But unlike the eastern part of the country, there is strong support for Kiev in Odessa and citizens have been willing to clash with militants....
The violence on Friday and the freeing of prisoners on Sunday highlighted a distinction between Odessa and the east: In both places, the police have sided with rebels. But here, local pro-Kiev activists routinely field street fighters ready to confront the Novorossiya group, with lethal consequences on Friday.

At the police station on Sunday, the riot police stood idly by as men and women gathered, banging on a gate and chanting, and then they demonstratively walked through the crowd led by a uniformed man wearing the black-and-orange ribbon that is a symbol of pro-Russian groups.

Soon enough, the prisoners emerged through the gate, pumping their fists in the air to chants of “heroes! heroes!”
-------------------------------------
Now, we have a lot of dead young people.
THE PEOPLE WHO WERE SHOT WHERE UKRAINIAN DEMONSTRATORS, NOT RUSSIANS.
The russian "peaceful" protestors had guns.
The russian demonstrators died of suffocation in the building = burning plastics.

Odessa journalist Sergiy Dibrov witnessed the May 2 violence killed 46 people, most of whom died in a fire in the Trade Unions Building.
Part 1:

"On the night of May 2, the football teams Chernomorets (Odessa) and Metallist (Kharkiv) played in Odessa. After the EuroMaidan protests started in November, Ukrainian football fans started the game-day tradition of peacefully marching in support of Ukraine’s unity as a nation. A planned march took place in Odessa on May 2 at 3 p.m.

In the last five months, Odessa has also seen opposing political rallies. One took place on May 1, when AntiMaidan activists and left-wing parties took part in a peaceful march.

The next day, however, was different. AntiMaidan pages on the Russian-controlled Vkontakte social network shared calls to forcefully stop the pro-Ukrainian march and gather at Oleksanrivkiy Avenue, near the planned march.

One of the pages called on their supporters in Odessa to “take after Donetsk,” a reference to the bloody attacks by Kremlin-backed, pro-Russian demonstrators on pro-Ukrainians on April 27.
Russian-backed attackers came armed, ready to attack

One hour before the march, some 200 young men gathered in an agreed location.

They came ready to fight. They had guns, bats, knives and wore helmets and bulletproof vests. They behaved aggressively and began to dismantle the pavement to prepare rocks to throw at their opponents.

At the same time, some 1,000 football fans and supporters of Ukraine’s unity gathered at Sobornaya Square.

Only several dozen members of the Maidan Self-Defense Units, a paramilitary patriotic organization formed during EuroMaidan to support the revolution, were equipped to defend the crowd.

The atmosphere was positive in the square. Fans of the two teams from Odessa and Kharkiv sang the Ukrainian national anthem together, chanted patriotic slogans such as “Odessa, Kharkiv, Ukraine” and sang songs against Russian President Vladimir Putin.

When the fans gathered in a column and began marching to the stadium, the Self-Defense Unit members were informed about several hundred aggressive AntiMaidan supporters coming to the square from Hrecheska Street, to attack the column of peaceful demonstrators.

Police didn’t separate the two rallies from each another.

The armed Self-Defense fighters formed a chain and put up their shields at the crossing with Hrecheska Street to protect the fans.

But the shields didn't stop the attackers.

They threw rocks and stun grenades into the column. In response to the explosions, football fans and Ukrainian patriots immediately responded and threw fireworks and smoke grenades into the attackers.

The street filled with smoke and the attackers retreated to Hrecheska Street.

By now, however, pro-Ukrainian fans were injured with rocks, hit in the face and head.

While the pro-Ukrainian Self-Defense members stood in a line in front of the pro-Ukrainian crowd, covering themselves with shields, police officers formed a similar line next to the AntiMaidan crowd. Even with the cordon, their Russian-backed opponents continued throwing rocks and other objects.

The AntiMaidan crowd was outnumbered and soon went on the defensive as angry football fans went on the attack and pelted the aggressors with rocks and chased them from nearby side streets....

Odessa journalist Sergiy Dibrov witnessed the May 2 violence killed 46 people, most of whom died in a fire in the Trade Unions Building.
Part 2:

"Gunshots fired by pro-Russian aggressors; first person killed

That’s when the first gunshots were fired.

One of the AntiMaidan supporters, armed with Kalashnikov machine gun, opened fire in a lane leading to Odessa’s main Derybasivskaya Street. A bullet hit a young football fan in the chest, killing him. Several dozen others were taken away by ambulance, injured by rocks.

After the first blood spilled, the violence escalated.

Young women and elderly people from the pro-Ukrainian rally began dismantling the pavement and passing the rocks to the frontline. Soon, other supporters brought gasoline and foam plastic, and young women began mixing Molotov cocktails right on Derybasivskaya Street.
Several hours of street fighting leave four dead, more than 100 wounded

Police officers attempted to protect the AntiMaidan fighters, but were thrown back by Molotov cocktails and rocks. The pro-Ukrainian side began using firearms, too.

(A video shows Odessa police defending the pro-Russian crowd while a man is seen using a machine gun behind their backs.)

The street fighting went on for several hours, initially claiming the lives of four men and injuring about 100 people. The deputy chief of Odessa police, Dmitriy Fuchedzhy, and the chief editor of the popular local online newspaper Dumskaya.net, Oleh Konstantinov, were among the injured.

Around 5 p.m., pro-Ukrainian activists captured a fire truck and drove it into the crowd of AntiMaidan people, using its water cannon to disperse the fighting crowd. The football fans chased the opponents, and beat those who they caught, while pro-Ukrainian Self-Defense members tried to restrain them from lynching their victims. By this time, 74 ambulances were at the scene.

After the AntiMaidan supporters were chased away, pro-Ukrainian activists headed to Kulikove Pole Square to destroy the Russian-backed camp. Some 2,000 pro-Ukrainian activists attacked the camp, where some 200 AntiMaidan supporters were present.

A video shows Odessa police defending the pro-Russian crowd while a man is seen using a machine gun behind their backs.

Pro-Russian crowd flees to Trade Unions building

When the activists set the tents and stage on fire, Odessa Oblast council member Oleksiy Alba called on the pro-Russians in the camp to flee to the nearby Trades Union building.

The pro-Ukrainians attacked the building with rocks and Molotov cocktails, while the AntiMaidan supporters threw Molotov cocktails from the rooftop.

Several bottles of petrol bombs, thrown by activists outside, broke into the front entrance and the windows of the second and fourth floor, where the fire spread quickly.

The burning building trapped people inside. Eight of them died after jumping from the upper floors as they tried to escape from the fire. More than 20 people died of smoke inhalation alone.

At the same time, pro-Ukrainian activists saved several dozen people from the rooms on the second and third floor.

Firefighters slow to respond

Firefighters arrived an hour after the fire began.

More than 100 people inside the building fled to the roof to safety. Police officers, who arrived after the fire was extinguished, took them outside and arrested them. Some football fans attempted to attack them, but were once again restrained by the pro-Ukrainian Self-Defense members.

Bloodiest day in Odessa since 1918

The May 2 events were the bloodiest civil conflict in Odessa since the pre-Bolshevik revolutionary raids on the city’s Jews and street fights in 1918.

The total death toll currently stands at 46 victims. One of the dead is Odessa city council member Vyacheslav Markin. Alba, who led people inside the Trade Unions building, survived."

When Russia blatantly annexed Crimea,
the West was in shock, but a lot of liberally "erudite" professors started rationalizing about
"historic justice/Nikita's fault",
"a lot of Russians in Crimea",
"oppressed" "Weimar-ish" Russia going through "psychological" treatments,
"historic justice restored - no more Border changes", etc., but...

On the other hand, there were some people who said,
Putin's Russia will not stop with Crimea.
Putin's Russia will grab more lands from Ukraine, including East and South of Ukraine, etc...
I was/am among those people.

It does not matter what our russian commentators write because of their internal beliefs or requirements at work,
it does not matter what "sauce" the russian commentators try to serve us with Putin's actions -
PUTIN WITH HIS NUCLEAR WEAPONS IS THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN THE WORLD.

Also, due to overwhelming "support" from our russian commentators expressed in the form of complains to the Economist, after numerous emails with the following message,
"We are writing to let you know that a comment to which you replied has been removed because it violates our comments policy..."

I decided to stop commenting about Putin's Russia, about Putin's dangerous plans for the Russian people and the whole world.
I hope my russian friends clearly understood my attitude towards Putin and my opinion about Putin.

I've just received another email from the Economist,
"We are writing to let you know that a comment to which you replied has been
removed because it violates our comments policy. All replies to the comment
in question, including yours, have subsequently been removed."

Here is my removed comment:
(Could somebody explain what was wrong with my comment?)
----------------------------------------------
If Crimea through
legally lawful and established means,
after open and democratic discussions,
without Russia's GRU Spetnaz troops providing "neutral" background and
"securing" the polls' perimeter and access to those polls,
without breaking Ukraine's constitution =
YES, IT IS OK WITH ME.

"If Crimea through
legally lawful and established means,
after open and democratic discussions,
without Russia's GRU Spetnaz troops providing "neutral" background and
"securing" the polls' perimeter and access to those polls,
without breaking Ukraine's constitution =
YES, IT IS OK WITH ME.

Anybody with an open mind and balanced judgement would understand your point.
But this doers not play into the hands (nationalistic mindsets) of Russian 'super-patriots'.

They have no respect for Ukrainian constitution or for free and open polls. Their falsified results of falsified 'referendum' staged in the presence of Russian Spetznaz teams FALSELY described as 'local self-defence' by FALSE spokesmen including Russian LIEvrov minister, represents the ultimate in Moscow's falsehoods.

Now we face Russian falsehoods campaign, Phase 2, involving cities in Donbas where Russian mercenaries and paid terrorists use heavy weapons, including mortars, anti-aircraft missiles and anti=tank grenades, all this while Moscow claims there are no Russian subversives in Donetsk area.

They'll eventually manage to trigger at least a regional if not a global conflict. Or, it's possible a "Putler kaput" scenario will play out. You never know, Russia is unpredictable, but usually rational in the final account.

You should not stop commenting about Putin's Russia despite the fact that some pro-Kremlin agitators on this blog may attempt to attack you with their rude and vulgar slander. These are typical Russian methods, employed by people who don't know any better. Its a typical Soviet Russian style. That's what they learned in their schools, what they practiced among their friends. Rude Russian vulgarity. Period.

how dare you call the white black and black white?
..
Why no truth about Odessa tragedy of 2 May?
...
Ukr nationalists pushed federatization-followers into a state building,
blocked them inside and spent 6 hours (!) killing them. look up the pictures
- heads and hands burnt, lower part of body untouched, majority shot on the
head, women with burnt heads without clothes on lower part of body, raped
before death...
...
that is how the "new govt" encourages the fascists from The Right Sector to
"punish" those who do not agree with their pro-American rule.
...
fascists were crying "Russians, burn!"
...
That is your democracy?

Out of 31 of those who died inside the Odessa trade union building of those who died in the fire, fifteen were Russian citizens, and five were Russians from Transnistria. An investigation conducted by the Interior Ministry determined that the majority of the 172 people who had been arrested were identified are Russian nationals, and residents of Transnistria. Police confiscated a large number of firearms during the arrests. Who was the fascist there?

Those who barricaded inside the building had machine guns and were shooting at pro-Ukrainian demonstrators from the roof of the building. The building was allegedly set on fire by the pro-Russian demonstrators who often use the Molotov cocktail as their weapon of choice, as one of them might have dropped a burning bottle on the floor by mistake on the third floor where it was impossible to throw a bottle from the ground and where the fire reportedly started. The real fascists reside on the Kremlin.

Rude, primitive, arrogant and writing in "Anna Smesnel-guest speak" (an analogy to Lydia Vasilyevna Lopokova, Baroness Keynes, the wife of Sir John Maynard Keynes, but she's not a primaballerina of Diaghilev's Ballets Russes or any other ballet group; she dances solo for Putler).

The Kiev government is in power because of a US sponsored coup. Not because of Yanukovych's corruption as he could have been impeached and dealt with (hopefully jailed) by regular democratic means if corruption was the real motivating factor for the Maidan protests and coup.

The whole country of Ukraine has been taken over by an illegal US sponsored puppet administration, I think there is very little Russia could do to come even close to being as bad this. At most they could help half the country break away, but that's only half as bad as what the US sponsored regime have already done.

If it's good for the goose then it is good for the gander, and if the US can interfere in Ukraine there is nothing that can be said against Russia if it interferes too. In fact it would be a useful counterweight to US meddling.

And if we stop for a moment to think about what the Ukrainian people want – well, it was the previous democratically elected government - and Yanukovych would probably have been voted out of office at the next presidential election as he has been before

The Kiev government is in power because of a US sponsored coup. Not because of Yanukovych's corruption as he could have been impeached and dealt with (hopefully jailed) by regular democratic means if corruption was the real motivating factor for the Maidan protests and coup.

The whole country of Ukraine has been taken over by an illegal US sponsored puppet administration, I think there is very little Russia could do to come even close to being as bad this. At most they could help half the country break away, but that's only half as bad as what the US sponsored regime have already done.

If it's good for the goose then it is good for the gander, and if the US can interfere in Ukraine there is nothing that can be said against Russia if it interferes too. In fact it would be a useful counterweight to US meddling.

And if we stop for a moment to think about what the Ukrainian people want – well, it was the previous democratically elected government - and Yanukovych would probably have been voted out of office at the next presidential election as he has been before

Russia had better keep its hands off Ukraine. If it invades even its southeastern part the Afghanistan will look like a school picnic in comparison, and remember that the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan precipitated the fall and implosion of the Soviet Union that happened almost exactly 11 years later. Things go on much faster than then in the 21st century.

To be honest, the whole world has already seen how the West did operate in Serbia creating an absurd mistake of a drug-financed state I wont name here, or in Libya seeding chaos or in Iraq - I am sure George W. would be happy to change his mind if there were a time-machine. Through deep mistakes and misunderstanding and electoral preoccupations and the spread of b*llsh*t and things like that, just like for Putin.

What a sharp contrast between your right wing pro-Kremlin propaganda and a measured opinion expressed by the Patriarch of Moscow, well know as a strong patriot of Russia, but obviously aware of his broad responsibility as the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Part of Moscow Patriarch's message to Metropolitan Agafangel of Odessa (3.05.2014) following the latest tragic clash in that city:

" I also pray for the salvation and healing of Ukraine, for the cessation of bloodshed, and reconciliation of enemies. I pray for the people of opposite political positions to be able, by God’s mercy, to hear one another and to realize that any attempts to impose one’s opinion on the other by force only lead to the death of the beautiful, blessed county."

Russophobic blinkers are still firmly on..
Here's a question that's never asked by the media: Why not make Ukraine politically and militarily non-aligned? Unless NATO expansionism is non-negotiable
-
What a sharp contrast between your right wing pro-Kremlin propaganda and a measured opinion
-
What? Non aligned Ukraine is "right wing pro- Kremlin propaganda"? It means no annection of east Ucraine, national unity preserved, no foreign bases in the country, "reconciliation of enemies" (it will take time, after Odessa, of course). What is "right wing propaganda" in it ?
Oh, I have guessed: the one "measured opinion" is "Ukraine in the NATO (eventually even with Crimea) and possibly "moskali" either deported in Russia or non-citizens as in the baltic states"...Right?
LOL...LOL...LOL...LOL...LOL...LOL...LOL...LOL...

Violent "moskali" will be deported to Moscovy, while the Russians, honest and law-abiding citizens will remain in Ukraine. Just like law abiding Tatars, or Poles, or Kazaks, or Slovaks, or anybody. Except MOSKALI !

At this point, war now seems almost inevitable in Ukraine. Undoubtedly, the massive concentration of Russian troops on the Ukraine border is clear evidence that Russia is preparing for a possibly imminent invasion of Ukraine:

Well, this time in may easily go off hand and trigger a global conflict. Guess what will China do! Do you think they've forgotten the Chinese soldiers killed by the Soviets in the 1969 Ussuri border conflict that almost triggered WW3?

Do you think they've forgotten the Chinese soldiers killed by the Soviets in the 1969 Ussuri border conflict that almost triggered WW3?
-
They remember, for sure. 10.000 poor soldiers died in the thoughtless attempt to take Damiansky island (just across the border, facing Khabarovsk), THat's why they VERY HARDLY will try that dive again (no matter how much you wish it)...

Pretty sad to hear about those people dying in that fire in Odessa. Regardless of the train of events leading up to the fire, or the politics of the victims, thats a real tragedy. And one likely to polarize the city.

Putin has their blood on his hands. The US and the EU don't send armed thugs through the border and don't incite or initiate terrorist actions. They also don't sell arms to Ukraine that, BTTW, has enough lethal weapons of its own making, as it's the world's fourth largest arms merchant.

Putin's hired contractors have been known to show their 'heroism' by offering money to women and elderly to form human chains in front of their barricades and to block the movement of the armed militia vehicles.
This 'heroism' of Russian saboteurs is criminal irresponsibility that would not be allowed (or promoted- encouraged) by any civilised leadership.

Putin has their blood on his hands. The US and the EU don't send armed thugs through the border and don't incite or initiate terrorist actions
-
Ah, so burning a building full of people is not terrorism? and those who did it (burning even the entry to prevent the people inside to escape) are not "armed thugs"?
Is it too much horilka or this is your normal (?) state of mind?

What's wrong with that? Russia has destabilised Ukraine since 1991 by sending its spies, recruiting agents and subverting public institutions. At least the West does it openly and, as you admit, it's only the "contractors" and money, but i'm not sure who are the contractors that have hatched in your imagination.

Putin's hired contractors have been known to show their 'heroism' by offering money to women and elderly to form human chains in front of their barricades and to block the movement of the armed militia vehicles
-
Oh, sure, all for money...Not to avoid to be a "non citizen" where you are born, as in the baltic states.
By the way: near Slovyansk, 10 people died (and dozens get woundet) in the attempt to stop a convoy of Pravy Sektor people who reached the area by car (thanks to ukrainian army). This is not Pravda, it is major italian daily paper "La Repubblica"...Of course, "Pravy Sektor" does not exist...they are irrelevant...and 10 people died! Guess if they were important...

Some weeks, maybe a month ago, came out the news that Ukrainian government had hired some "contractors" from a respected US company, maybe to replace Ukrainian soldiers who would have some problems to shot their own countrymen. Nobody denied these news, the answer (at least on TE blogs) was simply that those contractors would be "payed by Ukrainian people"...You are happy, everybody is happy...
So much for "immagination"...

At least the West does it openly
-
Openly?
If it were so, they would "counter-invade" Ukraine (west maybe east) with their forces. Contractors are useful (and used) because they are "deniable" (and "expendable", more than each country's soldier boys).

Leonardo and his Kremlin propaganda bosses have tried to twist the Daily Mail reporting their way. Leonardo has conveniently omitted to include the following comment:

"Pro-Russian forces have already seized control of the southern Ukrainian province of Crimea, although the Kremlin denies that the thousands of heavily armed, well-equipped men that have appeared there are under its control.

"Last month a report in the Daily Beast claimed that 'informed sources' in Moscow had said the troops belong to Vnevedomstvenaya Okhrana, a private security contracting bureau similar to Academi that is close to the Kremlin."

Those armed rebels claim to fight against illegitimate government. Okay. But do they really want Ukraine to have a legitimate goverment? Why do they boycott the 25th May elections, the only way to bring a legitimate government in the first place?
Why do they capture OSCE guys? Don't they want the new elections to be free of fraud and internationally observed? Don't they support presence of an organization that includes wide range of countries including Russia, which OSCE does?
Shouldn't they again and again talk about how their desired "federalization" should look like? Or present a presidential candidate that would support particular federal model?
Or maybe we're all wrong. Maybe they do not really want any of that. Some media call them "Federalists".. but all they really want is to join Russian FEDERATION. And they don't care what rest of the local population wants.

You're right that Yanukovych was legally elected president - this is not disputed. There is a dispute however about that his latest passed laws were serious violation of Ukrainian democratic order. But what's your point? The protesters are not even calling for Yanukovych's return. People in Donbass hate Yanukovych. Your argument does not make sense.

You base your second argument on presumption that pro-Russian and Kosovo separatists are somewhat the same - does that mean that in both cases, Kosovo separatism as well as pro-Russian separatism, you consider them wrong, Michleman?

"You're right that Yanukovych was legally elected president - this is not disputed. There is a dispute however about that his latest passed laws were serious violation of Ukrainian democratic order. But what's your point? The protesters are not even calling for Yanukovych's return. People in Donbass hate Yanukovych. Your argument does not make sense."

I sort of thought that eastern uprising is directly connected to thugs taking over Meydan and removing the legally elected president. Am I wrong?

"You base your second argument on presumption that pro-Russian and Kosovo separatists are somewhat the same - does that mean that in both cases, Kosovo separatism as well as pro-Russian separatism, you consider them wrong, Michleman?"

I will answer you on pro-Russian separatism as soon as you tell me whether you consider Kosovo separatism wrong, and consider that the US and its cronies have grossly violated the international law by establishing a military base there without Serbian consent, and subsequently recognizing Kosovo, hence violating the territorial integrity of Serbia.

"I sort of thought that eastern uprising is directly connected to thugs taking over Meydan and removing the legally elected president. Am I wrong?"

You're missing the point. As an anti-maidan activist, you either should call for return of Yanukovych or for new elections. They do not want Yanukovych back. Hence they should call for new elections.

"I will answer you on pro-Russian separatism as soon as you tell me whether you consider Kosovo ..."

Excuses, excuses, excuses. You brought here the argument about Kosovo, so you should clarify your point. You compared the two situations, not me, you should be consistent and condemn both or neither. Will you be, please, so honest?

"US and its cronies have grossly violated the"

Military presence in Kosovo was authorized by United Nations Security Council resolution 1244 by the way. But really, Kosovo is different matter and it makes little sense to mention it here just as it makes no sense to spoil discussion about Kosovo with remarks about different situation in Ukraine.

"Excuses, excuses, excuses. You brought here the argument about Kosovo, so you should clarify your point. You compared the two situations, not me, you should be consistent and condemn both or neither. Will you be, please, so honest?"

After you. Pronounce yourself on Kosovo, whether US actions there were legal.

I will only tell you that it is the same as what's happening now in former Ukrainian provinces.

what's your point? The protesters are not even calling for Yanukovych's return. People in Donbass hate Yanukovych.
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Do people who deposed a legally and legittimately elected president give serious guarantees for another legally and legittimately elected president they eventually dislike?
looking at the way they acted against candidates from other parties lately, the doubts are more than founded...

@michleman,
"=== the US and its cronies have grossly violated the international law by establishing a military base there without Serbian consent..."===

Have you read my extensive answer about the US military base in Kosovo?

Now, let's talk about those "legal" issues.
(Samo-samo over and over again)

What was going on in Kosovo?
A war.
What was going on in Crimea?
Tourist season fast approaching.

Was ethnic cleansing going on in Kosovo?
Yes. One of my Serb acquaintance said,
"We used to give a deadline to Kosovo Albanians from that area/village to get out by specific time.

After that, we would go in and kill EVERYBODY we find.
But what is you find a Serb general in that village?
We would kill that Serbian general. That was our order."

Was ethnic cleansing going on in Crimea?
No, the last and TRUE ETHIC CLEANSING was done by Stalin (and Stalin was such a great "cleanser", and since then,
no ethnic cleansing in Crimea.

(I just could not find any newspaper in Ukrainian language in Crimea. Maybe my eyes are bad.)

Camp Bondsteel was constructed to house American peacekeeping forces (!)
soon after Kosovo achieved independence from Serbia in 1999.

Did the Russians have their "peacekeeping force base" in Ossetia?
"There were about 2,000 Russian peacekeepers in Abkhazia, and about 1,000 Russian peacekeepers in South Ossetia under the JCC's mandate..."

Of course you knew about it.
Just tell me what happened Abkhanzia and South Ossetia after the Russian "peacekeeping" forces were stationed there?
Yes,yes, yes. I forgot. The Russians restored "historic injustice".

Are the Americans going to give American passports to the Kosovars?

Anyway, I'm not allowed to use "propagandist" by the Economist PC team, but you know who you are.

In my numerous postings, I clearly showed the difference between Kosovo and Crimea.
Enough.

"Do people who deposed a legally and legittimately elected president give serious guarantees for another legally and legittimately elected president they eventually dislike?"

No 'serious guarantees' can be given to any elected president to keep him in office so that he and his family can steal state funds, manipulate judiciary, commit fraud, or finally commit treason !
ANY president must earn confidence and support of his electorate and if he fails to do so should resign. The very fact that Yanukovych still regards himself as president ( with Putin's support ! - what a conspiracy !) is unprecedented violation of the fundamental rules of trust in the top state office of the Presidency.

In civilised countries ( not in Russia ?) the office of the President is not 'owned' or 'given' or 'guaranteed' to anybody. The PRESIDENCY is a matter or TRUST of the majority. ANY incumbent who lost the TRUST should be kicked out. Yanukovych, having committed a treason, fled with stolen assets instead of facing the court of the people !

I have worked in Camp Bondsteel and can tell you everyone there would have like to be somewhere else than in this joke of a country which is called Kosovo and which is a pain in the neck of the US government as well as of the EU. It was a blunder, as nobody had imagined Milosevic would have been dumb enough not to find a diplomatic solution and therefore the US had to back the UCK which had been considered till the start of 99 as a terrorist organization (by the US) financed by narco-trade (which it still is).

As for your anecdote:
"
Yes. One of my Serb acquaintance said,
"We used to give a deadline to Kosovo Albanians from that area/village to get out by specific time.

After that, we would go in and kill EVERYBODY we find.
But what is you find a Serb general in that village?
We would kill that Serbian general. That was our order."
"

I would assume your Serbian friend was drunk or boasting himself or both drunk and boasting - no matter of his rank (I assume he was some corporal but he could have been a general - does not matter if he was boasting or drunk - slavic people are excellent for both - which makes of them good companions for an evening but unreliable partners (in most of the cases - there are exceptions of course). And God knows the kind of counter-productive bullshit they can boast of, just to show off, especially with gullible Americans (having been in the special forces does not mean you cant be gullible - it just means you should know how to blast potential enemies).

"It was a blunder, as nobody had imagined Milosevic would have been dumb enough not to find a diplomatic solution and therefore the US had to back the UCK which had been considered till the start of 99 as a terrorist organization (by the US) financed by narco-trade (which it still is)..."
----------------------------------------------
I almost agree with your statements about the UCK, Milosevic, etc...,
Anyway,

THAT'S MY POINT, that
You cannot compare Kosovo to Crimea!!!
--------------------------------------------
"...slavic people are excellent for both - which makes of them good companions for an evening..."
--------------------------------------

"Have you ordered a fistfight for tonight? NO!
It's too late. Sorry" - a usual event with drunken Russians.
------------------------------------------------
"...just to show off, especially with gullible Americans..."
-------------------------------------
No, what I wrote about the Serb soldier in Kosovo WAS THE TRUTH. That's how they organized and carried out ETHNIC CLEANSING.

Shouldn't they again and again talk about how their desired "federalization" should look like? Or present a presidential candidate that would support particular federal model?
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How long would last this "candidate" in a country in wich Pravy Sektor fascists (THEY EXIST, got it?) do whatever they like, with or without the "national guard"'s uniforms?

"Do people who deposed a legally and legittimately elected president give serious guarantees for another legally and legittimately elected president they eventually dislike?"
No 'serious guarantees' can be given to any elected president to keep him in office so that he and his family can steal state funds, manipulate judiciary, commit fraud, or finally commit treason -
THe point is not what Yanukovich did. The point is how he was toppled. No fair trial, no election, no impeachment procedure following existing (and not "rough and ready") laws. WHat can grant that the same person will not do the same with another president, say, elected mostly with "moskali" votes? NOBODY!
So, FIRST disarm (REALLY) those people (and Svoboda -former UNSP- too), THEN do all the elections you want (possibly with foreign -including russians- observers: trust but veryfy...)...

I think the header of the article should read:
"US's and EU's "puppet" Ukrainian government continues to struggle with unifying the country, in view of the upcoming elections." (although BBC seems to think there won't be any elections in Ukraine any time soon.http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27161578

Expect Putin's UN representative to make public Moscow's plans to hold a ' People's referendum' in Donetsk and Luhansk regions on one of two options:

(a) Do you want your region to join Russian Federation directly as an 'oblast' ?
or
(b) Do you want your region to have a status of the DONETSK (LUHANK) Autonomous Peoples' Republic affiliated with the Russian Federation ?

Russia will solemnly promise to provide all security services needed to ensure 99.9 % turnout for the referendum.
That includes all security necessary to implement the 'peoples' choice' within three days at the latest.

Apparently there is a large contingent of Western Ukrainians manning this forum, together with a couple of crazy guys who would like to fight till the last European for matters for which they could not care less.

Aside from the Ukrainians themselves and of the Russians (and of the Baltic states for their Russian-minorities and of Poland for historical reasons), who minds whether Eastern Ukraine goes with Russia or stays with Kiev ?

The last 20 years of turmoil have demonstrated that the existing constitution of the country is too centralized and generates many unhappy people. Seems clear the solution is toward a confederation of regions - call them states.

You said,
"Aside from the Ukrainians themselves and of the Russians (and of the Baltic states for their Russian-minorities and of Poland for historical reasons), who minds whether Eastern Ukraine goes with Russia or stays with Kiev ?"

I do mind, and the civil world minds.

Anyway, it's impossible to discuss intelligently with a biased person.

To be honest, 99% of western Europeans do not mind if Eastern Ukraine goes to Russia. And why would you mind yourself, unless you were Western Ukrainian or from some former Soviet dominion.

Try to search on the Net for the history of Eastern Ukraine and you will soon discover that it has been part of Russia for ages. Now, if for you, following common sense and historical fact is being biased, I wonder who would be unbiased ? Perhaps Russian-bashers ? Come on !

Correction: I should have written that nobody in Western Europe cares whether Eastern Ukraine becomes Russian or not. I do not know whether the average American or Canadian does care or not (I would be curious to know the true opinion of Mr. Ignatieff - a former leader of the liberal party in Canada and the grand-son and great-grand son of former Foreign affair ministers of Tsarist Russia).

I've just read a very informative article at LA Times,
"What Vladimir Putin chooses not to know about Russian history".
Part 1.

(About Putin's Novorossiya claims).
It was Empress Catherine II who first articulated the ambition that this territory, which she acquired from the Ottoman Turks in the latter half of the 18th century, would become "Novorossiia." Catherine wanted her subjects to settle the new, mostly vacant land, and she did her best to lure Russian nobles into the area. But few were willing to take chances on "the wild fields," no matter what kind of deals she offered. Next, she posted fliers in Europe promising cheap land, religious freedom and exemption from taxes and military service to those who would settle in the area. Mennonite and Catholic Germans, Italians, Jews, and some Swiss, among other nationalities, accepted the invitation.

Later, Catherine's grandson, Czar Alexander I, recruited dissidents from the Ottoman Empire — Albanians, Serbs, Bulgarians, Moldavians, Greeks, Armenians and even some Turks — to settle in New Russia as an anchor against any Ottoman attempts to reclaim it. Some of the pockets of foreign settlement were even exempted from Russian czarist rule and allowed to preserve their national languages and customs. In the end, Catherine's New Russia became home to many more non-Russians than Russians.

The area's major cities also had distinctly non-Russian roots. Luhansk was founded in the late 1700s by an Englishman, and Donetsk was established in 1865 by a Welsh entrepreneur, who built a steel mill and opened coal mines. For almost a century after its founding, the settlement was known as Yuzkovo (as close to the name of its founder, John Hughes, as the residents could manage) before being changed to Donetsk in 1961.

Early European governors of Odessa, New Russia's largest Black Sea port, helped by the czars, did much to develop its economy and welfare. But by the mid-19th century, Russia was suspicious of the city because of its foreign population. Greeks, Bulgarians, Poles and Ukrainians formed secret societies. Jews made up an increasing percentage of the population. And Nicholas I, who ruled from 1825 to 1855, called Odessa "a nest of conspirators.

I've just read a very informative article at LA Times,
"What Vladimir Putin chooses not to know about Russian history".
Part 2.

(About Putin's Novorossiya claims).
"Fearing the perceived lawlessness and tumult of this cosmopolitan city, Russian czars began to appoint military governors to oversee the area, and they quit paying for infrastructure there, turning instead to other Black Sea ports. Had Odessa been more Russian, it might have fared better.

Even in Soviet times, Odessa was a city low on the pecking order. Again, as in czarist days, its residents weren't given to taking edicts from the Russian government all that seriously. One never could be quite sure of Odessa's Marxist orthodoxy — after all, this was where Leon Trotsky had gone to school and where Mensheviks flourished before 1917. After the 1917 revolution, it took several years for the Bolsheviks to subdue the city.

The Soviet regime increased Russian presence in the region, but Odessa never fully embraced Moscow, and it remained a poor cousin to other Soviet cities. Food and goods were in shorter supply than elsewhere, and first-rate opera and ballet companies rarely played the gorgeous Opera House designed by Austrians in the 1880s.

On Easter Sunday this year, a Russian Orthodox group in Odessa proclaimed the formation of a Novorossiia Republic centered in Odessa. The small band named Valery Kaurov, head of the Union of Orthodox Citizens of Ukraine, president of this imaginary, religion-based republic. Taking refuge in Moscow because Ukrainian authorities have launched a criminal investigation of him, Kaurov addressed the group assembled in Odessa by Skype, imploring them "to promote this historical name, to say and write that … our land is Novorossiia — an important part of the Holy Russia."

Ironically, in the 19th century when there actually was a Novorossiia, Odessa was known for its ungodly ways. There were fewer Orthodox Churches per capita there than in any other large city in the Russian empire. And the members of a Jewish synagogue there shocked more pious Jews by installing a pipe organ. A Yiddish expression held that the fires of hell burned around the city for its lack of piety. Worldly, materialistic, commercial, impudent, entrepreneurial and ethnically diverse, Odessa was an exceptionally cosmopolitan and non-Russian city. "

Ukraine is not such a poor country. Putin knows how important it is in the manufacture of jet fighter engines and tanks. It also has its natural resources, including shale gas deposits, especially in the Sloviansk region.

Anyone who bothered to observe Putin's words and actions should not be surprised. He's been the same ever since he left KGB school. The same Putin who murdered eight year old boys in Chechnya. He's the Putin that most Russians apparently like.

When Russia illegally annexed Crimea, and the West "reacted" the way it did, many people predicted provocations and trouble would next start in eastern Ukraine and along the rest of Ukraine's Black Sea Coast, including Odessa. They were right.

Yet perhaps Merkel was right when she said Putin was crazy in the sense that if he hadn't broken international agreements, if he hadn't striven to destabilize Ukraine before democratic elections, the West would have certainly looked the other way with regard to his many other sins. Russia has many enemies among former soviet republics in the east, it really doesn't need an enemy in the West. But Putin's KGB training means that he doesn't see it that way. He is fixed in a cold war mentality. And while he is "successful" in Ukraine, most of the Russian nation will probably also have this mentality.

The greedy national and multinational companies obviously couldn't give a toss, all they see is a huge market. But the West has already paid a heavy price when greed took precedence over common sense. Big companies couldn't give a toss about the commonweal, they never did. It's up to the Western politicians to prove their worth, to show that they represent higher values than just the money of big company lobbyists.

Western politics is controlled by the multinational corporations who are interested in only one thing: PROFIT.
What you have here is a classic scenario of going after "new" energy resources. No government in the West or Russia for that matter, gives a damn about Ukraine and its population.

This whole affair was started by the West, to de-stabilize Ukraine. The West installed a "puppet" government intending to isolate Russia from the West, starving their economy and "tapping" into their energy resources.

" It's up to the Western politicians to prove their worth, to show that they represent higher values than just the money of big company lobbyists."

Western politics is controlled by the multinational corporations who are interested in only one thing: PROFIT.
What you have here is a classic scenario of going after "new" energy resources. No government in the West or Russia for that matter, gives a damn about Ukraine and its population.

This whole affair was started by the West, to de-stabilize Ukraine. The West installed a "puppet" government intending to isolate Russia from the West, starving their economy and "tapping" into their energy resources.

" It's up to the Western politicians to prove their worth, to show that they represent higher values than just the money of big company lobbyists."

Considering the fall of the GDR came as a surprise, and then was followed by the 2 plus 4 negotiations, its doubtful.
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The Soviet Union and the GDR were both party to that "final settlement with respect to Germany," which involved something like nine months of negotiations (with West Germany, the United States, and apparently less than enthusiastic United Kingdom and France).
`
No one missed the Stasi-state of the GDR.

Like the Crimea?
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I don't think so. The Crimea didn't involve four other countries in the settlement on the peninsula. And annexation took place over a period of weeks, not nine or so months.
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If it were like the Crimea in any way, possibly similarity to the speed of events unfolding that surprised most people (like the domino effect of communist regimes of Czechoslovakia and E. Germany falling).
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And possibly similar to the fact there were like 300,000 Soviet Troops in East Germany at the time.
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Otherwise, I see very little similarity - how many places have Stalinist police states in place, as well as four other countries with war powers, and more than 300,000 foreign troops hanging around (over 600,000 if you also want to count US and BOAR troops, etc.?).
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And such comparisons come off as kind of downplaying the risks the Osties made in ridding themselves of the Stasi states.

"Like the Crimea?
`
I don't think so. The Crimea didn't involve four other countries in the settlement on the peninsula. And annexation took place over a period of weeks, not nine or so months."
Oh I see - so, the threshold for annexation is therefore nine months?
Ok, no problem. Sure Russia will not annex the rest of Ukraine (Kiev included) within that period. It might take them about a year, my wild guess.
Then it will be alright, I suppose, based on the so-called 'Dunne Principle' of the international law.

"Ukraine is not such a poor country. Putin knows how important it is in the manufacture of jet fighter engines and tanks. It also has its natural resources, including shale gas deposits, especially in the Sloviansk region."

Actually we could just say the same regarding Congo (former Belgian Congo, ex-Zaire): it is not such a poor country with plenty of natural resources. It reminds me of a statement coined in the 1930s by Claude Lévy-Strauss on Brazil, i.e. that it was a country with a bright future and that it would remain so for a long time. We could say the same on nowadays Ukraine.

"On the third day of the standoff, Russian security forces entered the building with the use of tanks, incendiary rockets and other heavy weapons.
At least 334 hostages were killed as a result of the crisis, including 186 children, with a significant number of people injured and reported missing.

The event led to security and political repercussions in Russia; most notably it contributed to a series of federal government reforms consolidating power in the Kremlin and strengthening of the powers of the President of Russia..."
"...After the conclusion of the crisis, many of the injured died in the only hospital in Beslan, which was highly unprepared to cope with the casualties, before the patients were sent to better-equipped facilities in Vladikavkaz. There was an inadequate supply of hospital beds, medication, and neurosurgery equipment.Relatives were not allowed to visit hospitals where the wounded were treated, and doctors were not allowed to use their mobile phones..."

Is Congo manufacturing a lot of jet fighter engines and tanks? I don't know what Brazil was producing in the 1930s but its certainly a big player now. I think your Congo analogy would be better suited to today's Russia. Plenty of natural resources and not much more other than a people quite irrationally bent on war.

have you been to Korelia? Siberia? Kamchatka?
...
Russia has vast lands with resources, not even capable of digesting it all, certainly not needing any more.
...
Greed and poverty - it is about the struggling EU and heavily endebted US.
...
if our Russia stands through all this, it will be the end of US as we know it.

I've asked our russian "friends" to show ANY real NATO base/s with REAL missiles in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland - the NATO countries that "SURROUNDED" Mother Russia and READY to attack ANY MOMENT.
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The point is not that the missiles EXIST. The point is, THEY COULD BE INSTALLED IN EVERY MOMENT.
US started a hell of a showdown for the Russian missiles in Cuba, not because they were the first aimed to USA (it was since the sputnik beeped on their heads in 1957 that americans knew they were under tire, sorry, under fire...), but because the time to react to the new short range missiles was deadly short: ten minutes roughly. By that point of view, Kennedy had all the reason to be very "nervous" about the new launch pads in Cuba, and he played masterly his game with Krushev. At the end Krushev whitdrawed his missiles from Cuba (not without heavy critics from the cubans: "Nikita mariquita, lo que se da no se quita..."), but he obtained the whitdrawal of american missiles from Turkey (close to soviet border like cuban missiles were close to USA) and the "gentlemen agreement" that USA NEVER would have tried to invade or bomb Cuba.
Now Putin does not want to find himself in the same situation in which Putin found himself in 60s and this is pure common sense. The best way not to find himself in that jazz would be NOT to have NATO countries close to home (if not, one fine day, who knows), but this is not possible, at least in the north (the balts). However there the difference from a base in Vilnius and a boomer in the baltic is not so big. Ukraine is another matter. It is wide, has a long border with Russia and is NOT YET in the NATO. That's why it is so important (I would say vital) for Russia (not for "psychopatic" -haha- Putin) that Ukraine remains "no man's land" between east and west (if not an allied country downright). And he uses and will use all he weapons it has (support to eastern ukrainian "terrorist" -haha-, heavy gas price for Ukraine if it does not get the picture, etc.) to get he point home. No crazyness, just pure sound real politik. Whatever russian leader would do the same (from Navalny, to Gorby, to...you name it).

Criminal organsiations are mobilising in Ukraine. According to Foreign Policy, they are concerned that further democracy could hinder their interests there. The previous regime and ambiguity suited them much more.

Its a valid point. One of the main criticisms of Putins rule is whether he has achieved much on the crime and corruption front or have mafias flourished simply camouflaging themselves as legitimate businessmen, patriots and politicos.

I wouldn't call Putins government a "mafia state" as Luke Harding does since all states are mafia-like and corporations, as well. The "Godfather" was simply an exposition of corporate America with Don Corleone as the CEO of a ethnic-based illicit enterprise.

But what of Russia? It seems that crime is less visible than in the perilous nineties. I wonder how the statistics for contract killings compare? Violent practices in business affairs have become less common.
Just as the government came to an understanding with the oligarchs, it appears there is some kind of truce with the crime networks and some say, a patriotic co-opting of these groups.

Putin promised a "dictatorship of the law". Thats not quite what he delivered. Parts of Russia are still relatively "lawless". Regional problems (in the Near Abroad) can be tracked back to deficiencies in the main country of influence.
When does corruption cross over and become crime? Navalny is essentially out of action so its obvious which side, in the battle against crime and corruption is gaining in Russia, under Vladimir Putin.

Sloviansk is almost totally in Kyiv's government anti-terrorist forces' hands, and an attack on Kramatorsk is underway. Cell phone communication is jammed by government forces, so the terrorists have scattered in panic all over the city, while a strong centre of resistance in the southeastern part of it is sealed off by government forces. All roadblocks are razed and TV as well as microwave wireless phone towers are back in government's hands.

The terrorists are still in control in some quarters of the city. Government forces set up their own roadblocks manned by the army that follows the special anti-terrorist units.

Two Mi-24 helicopters have been shot down by the terrorists. One pilot is dead, the others wounded and detained by the terrorists. The terrorists have anti-aircraft missile launchers, heavy artillery and grenade launchers, but the government forces close in on the centre of resistance.

Cell phone communication is jammed by government forces, so the terrorists have scattered in panic all over the city
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Young man...you know just cell phones, don't you?
"A piece of paper makes of you an officer, a radio makes of you a commander". Omar Bradley. And if they have RPG and AA rockets, they have radio too (and maybe satellite cellphone with random changing frequency: hard to intercept, harder to jam...)...
Try and jam them too...It takes a bit more...
And let them close in on the center of resistence. It was there that the real problems began for russians, in Grozny...
Urban warfare is the worst of all..."even the walls help", really...
The point is: they help the defenders...